Wei Xu Gui was a beat slow in responding, "…No need."
Cheng Tingyu laughed, "Wang Si and the others are waiting in Apartment No. 6 just to kill you and silence you?"
Wei Xugui: "No, they don't take me seriously, nor are they very suspicious. The only reason they sent someone to check on me is that, compared to my brother, I have more contact with my aunt. In fact, Wang Si didn't find any evidence. They don't have to kill me; it's just out of personal habit that they plan to get rid of me."
Cheng Tingyu, upon hearing this, revealed a contemplative expression.
Just as Wei Xugu couldn't help but open his mouth to ask, Cheng Tingyu finally said unhurriedly, "It's rare to see you say so much in one breath."
Cheng Tingyu pointed to his throat with his finger: "How's your voice?"
Wei Xugui: "..."
Wei Xu Gui remained silent for a moment, ultimately suppressing the urge to make a sarcastic comment.
After all, she had just awakened, and her abilities were still unstable. If she couldn't hold back and expressed something laden with personal emotions, it could easily lead to conflict.
Cheng Tingyu had a strong sense of balance. She sat leisurely on the railing, like a wobbling roly-poly toy.
Wei Xuguang had heard that she was a flesh-and-blood player, and he had been somewhat skeptical, but now he believed it.
——If it weren't for relying on the defense of flesh and blood, a normal person wouldn't dare to sit so casually on the edge of a falling building.
Wei Xu Gui: "Do you plan to live here permanently?"
Cheng Tingyu: "It should be."
"Since Wei Xuji asked about the situation next door, he probably plans to stay here for a while," Cheng Tingyu asked. "What about you? Aren't you going back to the central district? Doesn't your brother mind?"
Wei Xu's tone carried a kind of indifferent nonchalance: "The central district is different from the outer district. I just came out of a place like Apartment No. 6, and I need to observe for a while before I qualify to return to the central district."
Cheng Tingyu nodded.
Her previous deduction was correct. For the city of F0631, the outer district served as a massive buffer zone to isolate danger. When Cheng Tingyu was in the desolate area, she had heard people speak enviously that many residents in the city had never seen a replica in their entire lives. However, for the inhabitants of the outer district, replicas were not such a rare sight.
This city, with its different layers, distinctly divided the people within.
Sitting on the railing was obviously not a safe move. The night wind gradually picked up, causing the branches of the surrounding trees to sway continuously. However, Cheng Tingyu did not choose to steady himself with his hands; instead, he took out a small knife and began to carefully peel an apple.
Cheng Tingyu's deep and focused gaze was reflected on the blade. Her hand was extremely steady, and with an exceptionally fluid motion, she peeled the apple skin in one go, without a single break in between.
"Give it a try."
This time, Wei Xugu hesitated for a moment, then finally reached out and took the apple. He took a big bite with a crunch, then showed a face twisted by the sourness and asked, "Where did you buy this apple?"
Cheng Tingyu: "At the fruit stand outside, it's a thousand yuan per jin."
Wei Xugui glanced at her: "You got swindled."
Cheng Tingyu nodded, "I think so too."
In fact, both of them were well aware of the purpose of this conversation, yet after they started talking, the topic inexplicably drifted away.
"Wei Xuguang, recalling the usual pleasantries between neighbors, asked, 'Have you had dinner yet?'"
Cheng Tingyu shook his head with a smile, "Not yet. I was catching up on sleep at home all day and forgot to go out to buy food."
As for the choice of cooking, Cheng Tingyu could only express that while the muscle memory of this body had enhanced her combat skills, it had not improved her culinary abilities.
Actually, with her current physical condition, staying up for a few nights wasn't a difficult task. However, after experiencing the No. 6 Apartment instance, Cheng Tingyu cherished any opportunity to sleep without lowering her sanity value.
Wei Xu Gui: "I bought extra bread yesterday. Would you like some?"
Cheng Tingyu's response was to place his hand on the railing, then effortlessly flip over to the neighboring balcony.
The lights in Wei Xugui's house were mostly broken, and she had no intention of fixing them. She just made do with a few desk lamps she had picked up from the second-hand market.
After entering the living room, Wei Xuguang handed Cheng Tingyu a bag of white bread and then poured a glass of milk.
Wei Xuguang: "When I first saw you, I wondered if you were one of the 'Dangerous Mask' people."
Cheng Tingyu smiled, "Well, we're all in the same boat then."
Wei Xuguang's faint suspicion lingered until he left the instance, then gradually dissipated.
Wei Xuguang thought, Cheng Tingyu has a somewhat strange personality, but her abilities are outstanding. "Dangerous Mask" wouldn't send such a member to eliminate him; she hadn't yet revealed such value before.
Wei Xuguang: "'Dangerous Mask' is a black organization entrenched in City F0631. They like to recruit players with dangerous abilities."
Cheng Tingyu's deep black eyes looked at Wei Xugui and slowly spoke, "For example, 'Secret Eyes'?"
"Secret pupils" can serve as a medium for ancient beings to invade the present world. This trait means that once the people of City F0631 discover a player with such abilities, at best they will be exiled, at worst they will be killed.
However, humans possess an instinct for survival, which means that players with dangerous abilities will inevitably choose to band together to resist external forces when conditions allow.
Wei Xuguang: "So most of the people in 'Dangerous Mask' are from Mitong and Jieyu, along with some calamity insects, and the unwelcome flesh and curses."
The light in the living room was dim, making the faces of the two people in conversation appear blurry.
Cheng Tingyu's lips curled up slightly, his voice carrying a hint of casual gentleness: "Since you can hold on, has 'Dangerous Mask' mastered a way to avoid the madness of 'Secret Eyes'?"
Wei Xuguang: "My aunt once told me that the founder of 'Dangerous Mask' had studied at the White Tower Research Society for a period of time. Apart from the mainstream 'Isolationists,' he proposed a hypothesis called the 'Contaminationists.' The principle is roughly that if one contaminates oneself in advance, it might prevent being eroded by the 'Ancient Ones.'"
Cheng Tingyu thought that the founder of "Dangerous Mask" was very imaginative.
"..."
Wei Xuji's awakening of his abilities didn't happen long ago, but due to often being by his aunt's side, his knowledge in this area was quite substantial, forming a stark contrast with his naive and simple-minded brother.
In the desolate area, many of the capable individuals had not undergone systematic learning. Although Wei Xuguang thought Cheng Tingyu looked more like a city person, he still believed that providing more general knowledge wouldn't hurt. He decided to start from the beginning, and right in front of Cheng Tingyu, he opened his phone, selected a text, and activated the voice reading function.
Cheng Tingyu remembered that when he first awakened his ability, there was a persistent pain in his right eye, and Wei Xugui's throat clearly had issues, making it unsuitable for long speeches.
"..."
Judging by the signs in front of me, this girl might possess the power of cursed speech or calamity insects.
The voice reading from the phone echoed in the night
"In the beginning, there was no concept of levels for players. It was only later, when the first batch of people awakened their abilities, that they divided levels to conveniently describe their progress in the sea of consciousness."
"All players who open their eyes in the Sea of Spirits start at [No Light]. According to the visibility of the ocean, from lowest to highest, the levels are [Abyss], [No Light], [Twilight], [Dawn], and [Clear Day]."
These nouns triggered the reserves of knowledge in the corners of Cheng Tingyu's memory.
According to the visibility of the sun, the ocean can be divided into the photic zone, the twilight zone, and the aphotic zone.
If classified by depth, there are the epipelagic zone, mesopelagic zone, bathypelagic zone, abyssopelagic zone, and hadopelagic zone, with the mesopelagic zone also known as the twilight zone.
The higher an ability user ascends in the sea of consciousness, the closer they get to the surface.
"[Darkness] is the beginning, but not the lowest point. After opening your eyes, besides approaching the light you see, you can also choose to sink, to fall into the [Abyss]. Players in the [Abyss] cannot rise."
Wei Xu Gui: "Players can actively blend the powers of other paths to distort themselves."
"For the average player, mutation increases their risk of madness and death, but for the keen-eyed, it actually reduces their chances of being used as a medium by the ancient ones."
"Malformed players have a greater chance of spawning dungeons after death."
Cheng Tingyu listened silently and suddenly said, "Wang Si is dead. Will 'Dangerous Mask' take any action?"
Wei Xuguang instantly grasped the other party's intention: "I just barely escaped a disaster..."
Cheng Tingyu raised an eyebrow: "Then get ready, shall we head to the second trial?"
Wei Xu Gui confirmed, "This is your request?"
Cheng Tingyu glanced at her and smiled, "No, it's an objective description of your future plans."
From the very beginning, Wei Xugu was never one to avoid confrontation.
Starting with the dead person in Wei Heng's residence, Wei Xugu was trying to find ways to continuously clear out the "dangerous masks" around her. She would intentionally leave a small flaw, such as moving into a rental house without the supervision of the inspection team, deliberately giving the enemy an opportunity to exploit. Wang Si might not have necessarily taken action, but the opportunity was too perfect, so he came by to collect a head
Then successfully helped Wei Xu reach his second kill.
From the above behaviors, it is evident that Wei Xugu is clearly an aggressive player.
If given the chance to catch the tail of the "Dangerous Mask," Wei Xuguang would probably not let it slip away.
This organization, shrouded in numerous secrets, piqued Cheng Tingyu's interest. She touched her chin, lost in thought: "I think it's necessary for me to get to know 'Dangerous Mask' better."
Wei Xugui: "Do you have a grudge against them?"
Cheng Tingyu thought carefully for a moment, then honestly replied, "It's hard to say right now." He added, "I'm looking for something."
As someone with a good grasp of understanding, Wei Xuguang smoothly interpreted this as the thing Cheng Tingyu was looking for being in the hands of the Dangerous Mask.
As someone who also harbored secrets herself, she tactfully refrained from probing further.
——Wei Xugui didn't know that Cheng Tingyu's search plan hadn't actually reached this stage yet. Rather than figuring out who had the item, it was more worthwhile for her to ponder what exactly it was that she needed to find..
F0631 City can maintain order within the urban area, especially the stability of the central and outer districts, because it has methods to determine the types of players' abilities. However, these methods are costly and generally not used. The "Dangerous Mask" can hide right under the inspection team's nose, not only by avoiding activities in the central and inner districts but also by possessing a certain number of concealment items.
As a player with secretive eyes, Wang Si had stayed in Apartment No. 6 for such a long time without being discovered by the inspection team or being corrupted by the ancient source. Similarly, Cheng Tingyu, whose ability was that of an appraiser, possessed an [accessory with no sense of presence] that allowed him to hide his own traits.
According to this logical inference, it is highly likely that Wang Si possessed similar items. After his death, the "Dangerous Mask" would inevitably carry out the task of retrieving the items.
This person's apparent identity is an employee of the "Plush Bear" company—Wei Xugui learned from the inspection team that this store is just a shell company. After Wang Si's death, it no longer held any investigative value.
In apartment 502 of the residential building, two players with a certain interest in "Dangerous Mask" were chatting while munching on bread.
Cheng Tingyu: "If Wang Si carries his props with him, retrieving the 'Dangerous Mask' will be very difficult."
Xu Gui of the Guard: "People like Wang Si usually have a single line of contact with the 'Dangerous Mask' headquarters. After his death, the person who communicated with Wang Si before will proactively cut off contact, and the recovery department will handle the aftermath."